Chicago

Chicago is a city that swings - bristling with energy, overflowing with awesome architecture, and oozing jazz and blues, everything Chicago touches turns to gold.

Built on industry and once the turf of heavy-duty gangsters, Chicago is the powerhouse of middle America and one of the world's cultural and commercial Goliaths. Like Al 'Scarface' Capone, one-time king of its underworld, it's a city that knows what it wants, and goes out and gets it.

The city's historic centre is called the 'Loop' because of the elevated metro train tracks encircling it. Wander around its grid of streets or take a boat ride along the Chicago River, to admire Chicago's impressive architecture, from 1920s skyscrapers such as the neo-classical London Guarantee Building and the Art Deco 333 North Michigan Building, to the famous Sears Tower, whose elevators can scream you to the 103rd-floor viewing deck at nearly 500 metres per minute.

North-east of the Loop, exercise your credit cards on the Magnificent Mile - thronged with a multitude of shops that cater for everyone - until you reach Lincoln Park, where you can kick-back and have a well-deserved rest after all that retail therapy.

If the weather's good, it's worth hitting the bleachers to watch the Chicago Cubs swing into action at Wrigley Field, one of America's oldest ballparks.

In Grant Park, which runs between the Loop and mighty Lake Michigan (which itself offers a 45km-long lakefront playground), you'll find the Art Institute of Chicago, home to one of the finest collections in the world. South of it are two further major-league players, Shedd Aquarium and the artefact-packed Field Museum of Natural History.

Of all its great achievements, however, live music is Chicago's greatest. In this town, nights are made for soaking up jazz and blues at outdoor concerts and atmospheric bars, as Chicagoans have themselves been doing for almost a century.